"It starts with
a siege and ends with New Aeterna"
Bellum II, Chapter 10
We are going to do three "readings" today. It's been a while since we've
dived into the world of Angels and Demons so here is post stuffed with info.
Introduction
What I did Right With Lux Aeterna
Look, I'm going to be honest I sort of Stan parts of Lux Aeterna-verse. It was so different from the other stuff I was doing at the time and I kind like this world l because of how it's supposed to be a dark paranormal dramedy like the Vice-verse. I make myself laugh with some of the silly jokes I wrote and I also really like the angsty and supercharge physical relationship between Sera and Paris.
What I want to change
I mean there are A LOT of things I wish I could change, like some of the gory "world-building" I did in Lux Aeterna because I was still feeling things out. I'd also change how long I dragged out Isobel being a red-herring love interest when I just wanted Seraphina and Paris together (I too have a thing for bodyguards) And of course my biggest mistake was how Bellum III was a "coward's ending", because I really wanted Bellum III to take place ten years after Helios succeeds in his evil plan to create New Aeterna... Which I later turned into the New Aeterna-verse.
Bellum III is truly a mess. It's one of the shorter section and it's like I couldn't figure out what happened next. Paris is pining for a very broken Seraphina which feels off, then I focus on a teen storyline between Ariel and Dante...then like...Seraphina starts killing the Angels who assaulted her which I totally forgot about. Oh, and Isobel and Paris are in a fake relationship for...reasons ?
I also way over extended the angst and drama of Seraphina an Paris' affair in Bellum II....I mean they have a pretty hot affair and fall much harder for each other than I remember. In the New Aeterna-Verse their affair is cannon but with the regime, war and political maneuverings they never have time to 100% get that spark back.
On the flip side I will say that I noticed I used A LOT of abelist language and back then I don't think I got Seraphina being Non-binary right, so I'm doing a bit of re-editing
Lux Aeterna Recap
Characters
Lux Aeterna/New Aeterna-verse
*Look Isobel does not show up in this section or in Rogue so I'm going to leave her out and put in things I think will be relevant to our new adventures.
Paris Prince - After the death of the Demon Father he is the defact leader of the Demon Brotherhood and works with Isobel to solve his muder. He is a pacifist. He is an idealist and finds himself at the mercy of Helios and must work with his Brothers to defeat him in Bellum. In New Aeterna-Verse he is the face of the resistance and when Helios Regime is toppled he becomes King until his political misdeeds force him to step down as New Aeterna becomes a democracy.Seraphina Athena Grigori (Prince) - Second oldest Angel and the least trusted among her sisters Her past is filled with violence and murder and she has a antisocial personality disorder. Because of this Hmjeu took a liking to her and trained her to one day be Paris' protector; she Paris, and Isobel team up to find Hmju's killer. In Bellum she aligns herself with and begins an relationship with Helios until she betrays him and has an affair with Paris. In New Aeterna she is a vengeful POW and later marries Paris. She tries to find her place in New Aeterna and later decides to join Leon in restartig SGI.
Leoniadas Argos - He is Helios' Alpha or "second-in-command". When the male Angels arrive in NYC he begins to train Seraphina and develops feelings for her that he can't express. He later has a child with Aria. When Helios is defeated he takes over SGI. In New Aeterna he escapes before Helio's regime begins but is later drawn back into the resistance. He still has feelings for Aria even though she was forced to marry Helios. He and Seraphina work closely together and are close work partners and friends. Leon an Aria have three daughters together and begin to fall for each other.
Lux Aeterna Only Characters
Jona- Paris' brother who betrays him and joins Helios' side because he feels like Paris is weak.
Ashe - Paris' best friend. Centuries ago he insulted Seraphina and she stabbed him in the eyes and blinded him. Ashe was dating Jona until he betray the Brothehood.
Lysander - Close friend of Paris', Lysander is hurt when Helios attacks the Brotherhood. He is mentioned in New Aeterna-verse as Isobel's fiance.
Ariel - One of the younger female angels who looks up to Seraphina.
Plot Recap
NEW AETERNA
In 2013 New York City two factions of Angels and Demons have been living in a tense peace for centuries after a war and gendercide left mostly children alive. After thousands of years they have settled in New York Cuty with Anne leading the Angels and keeping them hidden under the guise of Queen Anne's College in Brooklyn, NY. Meanwhile the Demons have made their home in Riverside, NY (The Bronx) posing as a monastery that runs a tailoring business (The hell did I write guys ?) being led by Hmjeu and his apprentice Paris Prince, the oldest surviving member of the Demonic Royal FamilyParis is living a routine life even as his best friend Ashe and his little brother Jona begin dating much to his chagrin. Hmjeu suddenly falls ill and as Paris searches for an answer he runs into Isobel, a human grad student who unravels all his secrets. With her research savvy and his knowledge they work together to find a cure and uncover a conspiracy and betrayal.
Paris initially blames the Angels, but Seraphina --who was close to Hmjeu (you know...it's just occurring to me that Hmjeu was kind of manipulating Sera. He didn't really like her he just wanted to use her to protect Paris) she agrees to help Paris and Isobel... if Paris allows her to leave her claustrophobic life at Queen Anne's.They discover that one of Paris' brothers, Isaiah, poisoned Hmjeu and that Isaiah has been experimenting and has created a human/demon/vampire hybrids. They defeat him and as Seraphina and Paris try to escape after being kidnapped they share a kiss and its' revealed that centuries ago Anne and Hmjeu had a premonition that Seraphina and Paris were destined to fall for each other and change everything.
Just when all is at peace--Helios Thantos and a crew of surviving male angles shows up and cut off contact between the Angels and Demons for almost a year.
BELLUM I-II
Helios take control of the Angels and disposes Queen Anne. Sera earns the favor of Helios and works closely with him to destroy an take down the Demons and humanity. Sera has a change of heart when she becomes fed up with Helio's treachery . Sera goes to work in secret for The Brotherhood and begins and affair with Paris.
She learns Helios wants to isolate the island of Manhattan by taking out the bridges, declare war and turn the island into his nation called "New Aeterna". When Sera is betrayed by Jona, Helios tries to kill her but some sympathetic Angels help her escape. Jona joins sides with Helios because he wants his own country.
This is where the two worlds diverge
Bellum III
In the "cannon" Bellum III Sera and her little Sister Ariel are taken in by the Demons and work together to defeat and kill Helios. In the end-- for their crimes against Demons and humans-- all of Helios' soldiers are exiled from New York City...including Seraphina who (ironically) gets to finally leave the city just when she has found a reason to stay. She and Paris continue a long-distance relationship outside the city.
New Aeterna
In New Aeterna-Verse Helios decides to in act his plan for New Aeterna the day Sera escapes at the end of Bellum II. His army rises up and takes the island of Manhattan. Helios sends his men to St. Lilith's to kill everyone (So the Demons can't reveal that white gold kills Angels). Sera is at St. Lilth's during the attack. She runs and is caught and turned over to the U.S military. Paris is captured by Helios and there is a bloody ten day war. At the end Helios wins and the Angels are now knows as Helions. New Aeterna is a new country under a strict totalitarian Helion Regime.
Paris is rescued two years after New Aeterna's rise. A resistance has been formed by his few surviving Demon brothers (Damien, Callum and August ?) along with a few defecting Angels (Leon, Ares), Isobel and a few humans.
They help smuggle people out of the Helios' oppressive militarized dictatorship. They eventually rescue Seraphina when the U.S Government trades her to Helios for U.S POWs. Sera and Paris marry and spend the next few years planning to overthrow Helios.
Queen & Country
Paris Prince becomes the leader of New Aeterna...but Paris isn't a pure as he pretends to be. Not only did he lie about killing Helios (he has him locked up in a secret prison) he also has less the legit political dealings. When a faction of humans starts a violent political movement to return New Aeterna to statehood (Manhattan isn't a state, this is like a running joke) Paris is exposed and it's decide that New Aeterna will be a democracy.
...it's also revealed that Helios was rescued from his secret prison by a group who have deemed themselves The Legion. Helios has now been on the run for almost two years....
The Vault
Annotated Chapter + Missing Scene
So Today I'm opening up the vault with some items I found stuffed in the back. I think I may have shared this already. I called it "Pretty" but I can't find it on the blog. It's hard to search because of Pretty Little Things. Let me know if this sounds familiar.
This "Missing Scene" is Lux Aeterna related and will maybe help ease back into that world. This was something I wrote from Sera's POV when I wrote Bellum II. It is super short
This is a "Missing Scene" from Seraphina's POV and shows why her POV is so hard to write. Now this takes place during Bellum II Chapter 3, so I thought it might help to re-read that chapter so I have an annotated/condensed version.
Abridged Annotated Bellum II, Chapter 3
Seraphina is secretly working for The Brotherhood to take down Helios. To game plan they meet up at the Metronome Hotel
Missing Scene
After leaving a disastrous meeting Seraphina and Paris sneak back to his place.
New Aeterna Origins : Seraphina
This next item is from the New Aeterna-verse and I totally forgot I had this. I was going to write little "origin" stories for New Aeterna to show how each character joined the resistance but I never really started.. This shows Seraphina's origin. This takes place just after she was rescued by the Resistance after spending five years being tortured in a prison camp.
Origins : Seraphina
P.S if you remember in Q&C Leon and Seraphina go to a gay trucker bar he used to go to (because they had good drinks) when he was hiding out as a truck driver after escaping Helios. That was supposed to be in his origin story.
P.P.S Paris has a partial completed one but it's mostly him hallucinating about Seraphina when he is being held captive by Helios.
More Links
So clearly, I'm a dummy who hotlinked to much so I don't have much for Lux Aeterna picture-wise on the blog, but here is some stuff out on the 'net.
LiLe Juxtapost (I know, this is mostly Litany Lane but there is some Lux Aeterna Stuff)
New Aeterna Tumblr (The top is mostly clothes Sera wears in Q&C)
Lux Aeterna an Bellum have WEHEARTIT accounts
Okay, so that was a BIG Ol' blogpost. I don't know if any of that helps ?
